Foundation Jobs: what you wanted vs what you got

Both in terms of location and jobs, as I've heard some people get some pretty crap rotations. I'm wondering how far awry my dreams may go

For reference, my ideal foundation plan would be F1: 2 med (ideally gastro and resp/gerries), 1 surg (ENT, general, or ophtho or something); F2: A&E, GP, ITU/paeds/whatever. And somewhere in Wessex, Scotland, Wales, or Peninsula would suit me nicely

I like to think this is reasonably achievable, but knowing me I'll end up doing histopath, T&O and old age psych in Northern Ireland or something :awesome:

Reply 1

junior.doctor

18

I think it depends how important geography is to you, ie if you want a very popular geographical area it may then be harder to get the specific job that you want in that area. It's usually a bit of a lottery depending on what the people with the highest scores have chosen. But I think your hopes are very reasonable and achievable. Ironically at my FY1 hospital, the sole psych job was coveted by several people that year so people were in the unusual situation of wanting a psych job and not being able to have one - you can never predict what any group of people's interests are going to be, I guess you always have to hope they'll be different, or that your own aren't too niche / specific.

Some Foundation schools allocate 2 years of jobs at the beginning, others allocate FY2 later on based on various achievements / scores in FY1. I was in the latter, but was really fortunate in getting my first choice job both years, which I think is quite unusual. My geographical was quite average for competitiveness. Realistically though, I would have been happy with any of the jobs I had ranked in probably the top 25% of the list at least. My general experience is that in FY2, there are many ED, GP and ortho jobs, so if you're happy to do at least one of those then your options are fairly open.

Reply 2

Helenia

20

I was far more keen on location (South London) than particular rotations. I knew I didn't want to do psych or gerries (in hindsight, the latter probably wouldn't have been too bad) and was quite keen to get a paeds and O&G job at some point, so used those as the main factors in my rankings. I was in the 6th decile for overall score in STFS, but managed to get my 6 or 7th choice job for F1, in a London DGH, doing paeds, O&G, gen med and orthopaedics. For FY2 they linked you to a hospital but allocations weren't done until part way through FY1. I was supposed to be going to a Kent DGH and doing A&E, ENT and GP (I think) but my boyfriend (now husband) got seriously ill when I was an F1, so I got special circumstances to stay within London - albeit zone 5 and an hour by public transport - and did A&E, GP and gen med instead.

Reply 3

Letournel

15

There seems to be a lot of compromise in choosing jobs through FPAS, having trawled through those on offer this year i was unable to find a single job in my region that would align perfectly with what i wanted to do.

Fortunately some regions seem to be quite happy to let you swap rotations and within my own region i know that you can swap any other than your acute or community placement.

I ended up with F1 - Acute medicine, Orthopaedics, Neuro/trauma ITU; F2 - GP, Geriatrics, Hepatobiliary and pancreatic surgery

Initially this was quite a compromise for me due to doing GP and Geris in F2 (though it was still my first choice as there weren't any other options i thought better), however through the swap system if i could swap say geris for another form of surgery (eg vascular which people in the region seem to dislike), then it suddenly looks a lot better in my (surgery tinted) eyes.

Reply 4

nexttime

22

Highly dependent on location and of course your anticipated score. If you're wanting to go to Coventry or Stafford you will definitely get the location you want and probably one of your top choices of job as well even if you're bottom decile. Whereas if you put the 4 London deaneries as your first 4 choices, you're going to have to give some serious thought to your 5th and 6th+ choices and you'll need to be happy with doing whatever job you are given (be it in Brighton for a year or whatever), even with a top decile.

Original post by Ghotay

I like to think this is reasonably achievable, but knowing me I'll end up doing histopath, T&O and old age psych in Northern Ireland or something :awesome:

I did those two with no interest in either :p:

To be honest, you will probably get at least one or two rotations that have no relevance to your career are deadly dull. But that's how training works in the UK: its about service provision, not learning. Do what you're told!

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 5

xXxBaby-BooxXx

19

I got 5/6 jobs that I actually wanted, and one that I didn't, although I didn't want to do GP, psych or geriatrics and I don't think there's a job in the country that doesn't involve at least one of those :p:

Reply 6

seaholme

19

I also got 5/6 of the jobs I wanted. Allowing that I didn't much want to do GP but out of the compulsory 'community' element I wanted I guess I at least got my preferred GP over Psychiatry! It's so annoying that in my deanery they make you do one or the other.
The 1/6 I didn't want (T&O) was even more miserable than I could have predicted when I accepted it as a trade off @__@ I didn't really consider it back then I was just delighted with 5/6 and put it as my 1st choice. Others must have known haha or I'd never have got it.

I did it based on specific jobs rather than location. I really wanted to try a particular specialty, so that's what I went for.

(edited 7 years ago)

Reply 7

Ghotay

OP

13

Sounds like you guys had decent luck, gives me hope.

I didn't know you could swap though, how does that work?

Reply 8

Letournel

15

Original post by Ghotay

Sounds like you guys had decent luck, gives me hope.

I didn't know you could swap though, how does that work?

I'm not sure which other deaneries you can do it in but in my deanery you simply have to find someone who is willing to swap a job with you and then submit a form. The conditions on it are that you can't swap your acute or community placement, and you can only swap one of your jobs throughout the two years.

Reply 9

seaholme

19

I think in some deaneries it's easier than others to arrange a swap. The only person I know who has successfully got a swap they wanted got it for pastoral reasons. Otherwise the ones I know of have been denied, even with two sides prepared to swap.

Reply 10

Ghotay

OP

13

Original post by seaholme

I think in some deaneries it's easier than others to arrange a swap. The only person I know who has successfully got a swap they wanted got it for pastoral reasons. Otherwise the ones I know of have been denied, even with two sides prepared to swap.

That doesn't really seem to make much sense. Too much paperwork I guess?

Reply 11

Democracy

20

I got my first choice foundation school which is what I was most concerned about.

I wasn't actually too bothered about FY1 rotations and I got my 14th choice, but I got the one job I wanted - the other two are just general medicine and general surgery which everyone has to do, so that was fine.

My dream foundation programme would involve no GIM, but I'm not sure how that would work outside of dream world. Still, we can all fantasise about what life would be like without 5 hour ward rounds :wink:

For reference, my bottom ranked choice was: old age psych, gastro, and endocrinology and diabetes.

Reply 12

Elwyn

17

Original post by Democracy

I got my first choice foundation school which is what I was most concerned about.

I wasn't actually too bothered about FY1 rotations and I got my 14th choice, but I got the one job I wanted - the other two are just general medicine and general surgery which everyone has to do, so that was fine.

My dream foundation programme would involve no GIM, but I'm not sure how that would work outside of dream world. Still, we can all fantasise about what life would be like without 5 hour ward rounds :wink:

For reference, my bottom ranked choice was: old age psych, gastro, and endocrinology and diabetes.

Currently on placement shadowing the F1 I will be replacing in August (general surgery firm). Our list has had no more than 3 patients for the last 2 or 3 weeks and ward rounds are finished before 9!

Reply 13

Democracy

20

Original post by Elwyn

Currently on placement shadowing the F1 I will be replacing in August (general surgery firm). Our list has had no more than 3 patients for the last 2 or 3 weeks and ward rounds are finished before 9!

http://gomerblog.com/2015/03/medicine-rounds/

:frown:

Reply 14

ForestCat

18

Original post by Democracy

http://gomerblog.com/2015/03/medicine-rounds/

:frown:

PRSOM. I think I hit a record in surgery yesterday, a 4 hour ward round!! God help me in medicine!

Reply 15

nexttime

22

Original post by ForestCat

PRSOM. I think I hit a record in surgery yesterday, a 4 hour ward round!! God help me in medicine!

We have a surgeon who regularly does 8 hour ward rounds. I've only seen him a couple of times but... I have to say its difficult to see what he's actually doing a lot of the time.

Apparently he takes literally twice the time of any other surgeon doing his ops as well.

Reply 16

ForestCat

18

Original post by nexttime

We have a surgeon who regularly does 8 hour ward rounds. I've only seen him a couple of times but... I have to say its difficult to see what he's actually doing a lot of the time.

Apparently he takes literally twice the time of any other surgeon doing his ops as well.